BEING too disorganized and lazy to plough through my old columns, I never quote from them. Indeed, I have been accused of repeating myself from time to time. I can only plead a defective memory and a hopefully consistent set of views and values.

Soon after the army staged its little coup in October 1999, I remember suggesting that the junta should stick to a short, tight agenda and not disperse its time and energy on fixing all the many ills that plague us. But governments are not famous for heeding advice from underpaid hacks, no matter how well-intentioned, and probably just as well. As we have seen, the generals have been profligate with their efforts, trying to sort out everything and everybody under the hot Pakistani sun.

The one group they had not touched were the sectarian and jihadi elements. I recall suggesting that many of our problems could not be solved until the tidal wave of religious intolerance and its accompanying violence were checked. How could we think of foreign or even local investment in an atmosphere marred by regular bloodletting between various sectarian outfits? Who would seriously contemplate even travelling to a country in which 300 people died last year in religious violence?

Indeed, soon after he took over, General Musharraf legitimized the activities of fanatical groups undertaking cross-border attacks in Indian Kashmir by drawing a distinction between jihad and terrorism. Just recently, in an interview he characterized these groups as mere "irritants." Against this backdrop, it is encouraging to see this government finally getting tough with one of the most rabid gang of zealots, the Sipah-i-Sahaba of Pakistan (SSP). For years, they have been preaching a message of hate, targeting the Shias and demanding they be declared non-Muslims. Because of the weakness of past governments, the most violent of them have gone unpunished.

The current crackdown on the SSP has been caused by the recent hanging of their activist, Haq Nawaz, the killer of Sadiq Ganji, director of the Iranian Cultural Centre in Multan, eleven years ago. The government, fearing a violent backlash, has launched its own pre-emptive sweep, scooping up hundreds of militants. It is all too likely that they will be released in a few days now that the hanging is over. This would be unfortunate as the group remains armed and very dangerous. Under a military dispensation, habeas corpus is often suspended as it has been for many politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats (no military personnel or judges, though) kept under detention for months without due process.

This move has been accompanied by tough-sounding statements by General Moinuddin Haider, the interior minister banning the display of arms by individuals or groups. Since the main culprits are the religious parties and the jihadi elements, it is clear that the threat is directed against them. While laudable in itself, this injunction has been made before and ignored by our militant mullahs. Indeed, the national press has often carried pictures of bearded zealots brandishing their automatic weapons at public rallies.

Perhaps even more significant is the interior minister's declaration that no donations can be collected (or extorted) by jihadi groups. This has drawn a storm of protests from these elements as their leaders have access to huge sums of money for which they are accountable to nobody. For years, successive governments have been denying military support for Kashmiri militants while jihadi outfits have been openly collecting funds to buy arms and train infiltrators at camps established in Punjab and Azad Kashmir. In these efforts, these groups have received more than a wink and a nod from shadowy agencies that have sought to keep the Kashmir pot on the boil while preserving official deniability.

The same nexus between intelligence agencies and fanatical groups has been at work in Afghanistan where they have helped the Taliban to take control of much of that ravaged country. The medieval horrors visited upon our long-suffering neighbours by their benighted rulers can best be judged by their recent edict to destroy all their ancient and priceless Buddhist statues in the name of Islam. The Pakistan government must publicly condemn this decision, and privately dissuade the Taliban from carrying it out. It is now an open secret that the Taliban receive military and monetary assistance from sources in Pakistan. This has greatly tarnished our image abroad as the Afghan rulers are widely seen as stone-age fanatics who want to turn the clock back.

If the recent tough statements from the interior ministry signal a change in policy towards religious extremists, they should be welcomed by all sane Pakistanis. Our gradual slide into chaos and anarchy can be directly attributed to the tide of intolerance unleashed upon us by Zia, and then accepted by his civilian and military successors. I have often argued that these religious fanatics can only be curbed by the army as they are now too well armed and organized to be controlled by the police alone.

But given the political will, it can be done. The one thing Benazir Bhutto did of lasting value was to crush the armed wing of the MQM. Granted that many excesses were committed, but her interior minister, the indefatigable General Babar, devoted much time and effort to eradicating the daily menace of the MQM. The army, perceiving this ethnic group as a national threat, supported the political initiative taken by the government, and the result is a relatively peaceful Karachi.

The threat now comes from armed sectarian and jihadi groups, and the whole country is their stamping ground. There is a pressing need to give them a demonstration of the government's will. If the interior minister cannot implement his own orders to halt fund-raising and the display of arms, this will be seen as a sign of weakness. As it is, he has talked the talk in the past without showing us that he can also walk the walk. Words without action are meaningless, especially when confronted with highly motivated and armed fanatics for whom the rule of law is only an airy-fairy concept written by and for much-despised liberals.

Let us be clear that today's Pakistan is out of step with the rest of the world. No matter how strong a country's legal case, nobody is going to support cross-border insurgencies or fanatical regimes that prohibit women from getting medical attention and an education in the name of religion.

And if we expect foreign tourists and investment to come when sectarian gangs are shooting each other and there is talk of nuclear war over Kashmir, we are much mistaken.

No matter how much we would like to see the Kashmir issue resolved to our advantage and have a pliant regime in Afghanistan, we need to restore sense and stability in Pakistan before we can help anybody else.